The AfD won Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A 39-seat SPD-Left-Green deal will keep it in opposition

The Social Democrats, the Left party and the Greens agreed on Tuesday to govern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern together, keeping the Alternative for Germany (AfD) out of power in the state where it won the most votes in September. The three parties presented a 133-page coalition agreement in Schwerin under the motto "Cohesion, Confidence, Future." It would make the Greens part of the state government for the first time and create the state's first three-party coalition.

The deal is built around economic development. It promises a new state development bank, a continued build-out of wind and solar power "with measure and moderation," a €1,000 interest-free loan for every apprentice and a compulsory pre-school year. It also asks for sacrifices from the state's own workforce: 1,000 jobs cut from the administration and a 41-hour week for civil servants. Business groups, unions and the AfD each found something to dislike. Minister-President Manuela Schwesig plans to seek re-election in the state parliament on Monday, November 16.

Quotations from German-language sources in this article are 567politics translations.

The numbers behind the coalition#

The AfD won the September 20 election with 38.2% of the vote and 32 of the 71 seats, according to the final official result published by the state parliament. Schwesig's SPD came second with 35.5% and 29 seats. The Left won 6.5% and the Greens 5.7%, five seats each. The Christian Democrats, with 4.9%, fell below the 5% threshold for the first time in the party's history, and the FDP took 1.0%. Turnout was 78.0%.

That arithmetic left few options. The SPD and the Left, which have governed together since 2021, lost their joint majority, WELT reported. With the Greens, the three parties hold 39 of the 71 seats. A majority is 36. The AfD found no partner willing to govern with it, WELT reported. It will be the only opposition party.

• 2021
• 2026

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

AfD2021: 16.7%2026: 38.2%

SPD2021: 39.6%2026: 35.5%

Left2021: 9.9%2026: 6.5%

Greens2021: 6.3%2026: 5.7%

CDU2021: 13.3%2026: 4.9%

FDP2021: 5.8%2026: 1%

AfDSPDLeftGreensCDUFDP

Source: Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, tagesschau election archive

Show the numbers

Party	2021	2026
AfD	16.7%	38.2%
SPD	39.6%	35.5%
Left	9.9%	6.5%
Greens	6.3%	5.7%
CDU	13.3%	4.9%
FDP	5.8%	1%

The shift since 2021 is stark. The AfD more than doubled its share, while the SPD lost about four points and the CDU lost almost two-thirds of its vote. The Left and the Greens both fell but stayed above the threshold, which is what made the three-party option possible.

AfD

32

SPD

29

Left

5

Greens

5

Source: Landtag Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Show the numbers

Party	Seats
AfD	32
SPD	29
Left	5
Greens	5

What the agreement promises#

The three lead negotiators presented the agreement together at the state press conference: Schwesig for the SPD, Hennis Herbst, who leads both the Left party and its parliamentary group in the state, and Claudia Müller, who leads the Greens' group. "They were intensive negotiations, often from morning to evening or late into the night," Schwesig said, according to NDR, the regional public broadcaster.

The coalition agreement, published by the Greens, runs to more than 800 numbered paragraphs. These are some of its main commitments, with the text's own wording where quoted:

Müller focused on energy. The Greens hope that cheap renewable power will draw new industry, especially maritime firms, to the state. The agreement says the coalition will ask the federal network agency to exempt households within 2,000 meters of wind turbines and 500 meters of large solar farms from grid fees. According to NDR, the coalition also wants a cap on the land used for solar farms. Müller noted that only one state, Bavaria, will now have no Green ministers. "Greetings go out to Bavaria," she said.

Herbst summed up the Left's priorities: "We are betting on fair chances in education, affordable housing, good health care, fair wages, strong women's rights, more opportunity for young people and a consistent protection of our democracy."

The education plans include a compulsory pre-school year for all children, free daycare and slightly smaller groups in nurseries and after-school care, NDR reported. Young people would get low-interest loans for a driving license, and the Deutschlandticket for public transport would be subsidized from age 14.

Paying for it: fewer posts, longer hours#

The agreement is frank about money. It says the coalition will cut 1,000 posts in the public administration "outside of police and schools" by the end of the five-year term, "taking retirements into account." Digitization and artificial intelligence are meant to make up for the lost staff. "This will still be a great effort that lies ahead of us," Schwesig said, according to NDR.

For civil servants, the agreement links pay to hours. The coalition must meet new Federal Constitutional Court standards on adequate pay for civil servants, it says. "To finance this measure, the weekly working time for civil servants must, as in a number of states and at the federal level, be raised to 41 hours in principle." Requests to work 40 hours part-time will be approved. The agreement also says that in the future only core state roles, such as police, tax administration and justice, and teachers would be given civil-servant status.

The AfD: "a third party in the cabinet is no vision"#

Enrico Schult, who leads the AfD group in the state parliament, rejected the program. "Red-Red-Green has missed the necessary new start for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A third party in the cabinet is no substitute for a vision for our country," he said in a statement published by the AfD group. He said some sensible plans had been copied "one-to-one" from the AfD and that the coalition would struggle to pay for its promises with a strained budget.

Schult also attacked the democracy-protection fund. "The sparrows are whistling it from the rooftops: the 'democracy-protection fund' will be used to agitate against the AfD with taxpayers' money," he said. The agreement itself describes the fund as support for people facing extremist threats because of their commitment to the constitutional order who, in the state police's assessment, need special protection. NDR said one aim is to help mayors pay for their personal security.

He pointed to the election of the parliament's president as evidence of how the coalition treats the AfD. The SPD's Birgit Hesse kept the post after an AfD candidate was defeated, WELT reported. "When the strongest force, with over 400,000 first votes, is to be kept out in parliament, that has nothing to do with democracy anymore," Schult said. In a separate statement, Schult said the coalition's school plans, including the pre-school year and a phone ban through grade 9, had been in the AfD's and CDU's election programs.

The AfD ban question left to a side agreement#

The Left and the Greens had wanted the state to push, through the Bundesrat, for the Federal Constitutional Court to examine a ban on the AfD. That demand is not in the agreement, NDR reported. In a side agreement, the three parties only agreed to support a working group of the federal government and the states on the issue. The federal debate over a possible ban is covered in our report on the leaked emails about an AfD ban review.

Unions and employers: mixed to critical#

The deal drew criticism from both sides of the labor market, NDR reported. The northern branch of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB Nord) said the commitments to fair wages, collective bargaining and co-determination were "good signals." Its chair, Laura Pooth, criticized the 1,000 job cuts and the 41-hour week.

The civil servants' federation was more critical. Its state chairman, Dietmar Knecht, called the plan an "austerity program on the backs of the employees." He argued that the cuts were unplanned, because the tasks would not disappear along with the posts.

Employers' president Lars Schwarz said he saw "no real economic-policy breakthrough." Instead of relieving businesses, he said, the coalition was holding on to rules such as the minimum wage for public contracts.

Party votes and the November 16 election#

The three parties will hold separate conventions on Friday and Saturday to approve the agreement, which WELT described as a formality. Schwesig plans to tell the public on Thursday how the ministries will be divided, and to name her ministers later, according to NDR. The coalition groups have asked for the parliament to meet on Monday, November 16, for the vote on the head of government. Under the state constitution, the last possible date is November 17, WELT reported.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is one of three states that voted in September. As of Tuesday, neither Saxony-Anhalt nor Berlin had a new government, WELT said. For how Germany's parties compare on the economy and social issues, see our Germany political spectrum, shown below. The placements are dated editorial estimates, not measured scores.

How we reported this#

567politics read the coalition agreement as published by the Greens of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the state parliament's announcement of the final election result, the tagesschau election archive and two statements from the AfD group. Quotes from the press conference and from unions and employers come from NDR and WELT; we did not find their own statements online. The SPD and the Left had not posted the agreement on their own sites when we checked. More on federal politics is on our Germany elections page. See our methodology for how we source and check stories.

Differing perspectives

Is the SPD-Left-Green coalition agreement the right program for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Back the three-party program

  Who holds it: SPD leader Manuela Schwesig, the Left's Hennis Herbst and the Greens' Claudia Müller

  The partners argue that a new state development bank, renewable energy and simpler, more transparent funding procedures will help the economy grow, with grid-fee relief for neighbors of wind and solar parks. They say a compulsory pre-school year, apprentice loans, a citizens' council and a democracy-protection fund invest in people, while a leaner, digital administration keeps the budget under control.

  In their words: Coalition agreement 2026-2031 (published by Bündnis 90/Die Grünen MV) ↗

• Reject it as no new start

  Who holds it: The AfD group in the state parliament, led by Enrico Schult

  The AfD says the coalition has missed the necessary new start and that adding a third party is no substitute for a vision. It argues the promises cannot be financed with a strained budget and new debt, and that eyeing wealth and inheritance taxes burdens business. It says the democracy fund will be used against the AfD, the largest party.

  In their words: AfD-Fraktion Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ↗

• Spare public employees the cuts

  Who holds it: DGB Nord chair Laura Pooth and the state civil servants' federation under Dietmar Knecht

  Unions welcome commitments to fair wages, collective bargaining and co-determination, but object to cutting 1,000 posts and raising civil servants' hours to 41. The civil servants' federation calls it an austerity program on the backs of employees and argues the cuts are unplanned, because the work will not disappear along with the posts.

  In their words: NDR ↗

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